IN THE face of fading public confidence, the British government is fighting
tooth and nail to restore faith in the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and
rubella. But is it a fight that the government can win?
The crisis stems from a controversial claim in 1998 by gastroenterologist
Andrew Wakefield that MMR may trigger autism and bowel disease in a few
children. Clear evidence for or against this idea is proving hard to come by
(see “A stab at the truth”).
And if there is a risk, it will affect
far fewer children than those ravaged by measles without…
